Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Ben dropped this voice dispatch yesterday with the great news that the team had spent a night in C1 and that Sophie and Siddhi were planning on making a run to stay at C2 if all went well! Ben called in from ABC along with Keith and Ratna and it sounds as if the team is back on schedule with the route being pushed through the first ice fall and perhaps even to C2 by today!Ben a laissé un message le 26 avril. Il nous dit que l'ensemble de l'équipe a passé la nuit au camp n°1 et que Sophie et Siddhi ont prévu de pousser jusqu'au camp 2 dans la foulée si tout ce passe comme prévu. Ben nous a appelé du camp de base avancé ou il était avec Keith et Ratna et il semble que l'équipe soit revenu en ligne avec les plannings initiaux en réussissant à aller jusqu'à la première cascade de glace et peut être même jusqu'au camp 2 dès aujourd'hui!
After another short rest Ben will push with Keith to C2 and with nights in C2 the team will be then ready to mount a summit bid.

Monday, April 25, 2011

Le Camp 1 est établi
I had a good talk with Ben in ABC today and the team is doing very well having made the first carry to C1 yesterday and planning on a move to C1 for the night tomorrow. They have had a bit of snow every day but the winds have subsided so they are able to move about without any trouble on the hill. The forecast is for low winds and continued minor precipitation each day with the 27 and 28 looking quite a bit more clear.
Ben has also dropped a voice dispatch with the latest updates from ABC. Enjoy listening in! Aujourd'hui, le responsable de l'expédition a eu une bonne conversation avec Ben alors qu'il se trouvait au camp de base avancé. L'équipe fonctionne très bien et a déjà fait un premier portage au camp 1 hier et ils prévoient de définitivement monter au camp 1 demain soir. Ils ont eu un peu de neige tous les jours mais le vent a suffisamment faibli pour leur permettre de se deplacer sans problème. La météo prévoit peu de vent et de faibles précipitations tout au long des jours à venir avec une légère amélioration les 27 et 28. Ben a également laisse un message vocale du camp de base avancée que l'on peut ecouter ici (http://www.fieldtouring.blogspot.com/).

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Ben called in from IBC late yesterday to let us know that he had just successfully completed evacuating one of our members (Pille) who had come down with suspected HAPE in the early morning hours of the 21st. Pille is already at this time back in Kathmandu and feeling much better. The rest of the team in doing well in ABC and waiting for Ben and Siddhi to return.

Ben said that as Pille descended her condition improved markedly and she was under her own power by the time the reached CBC. After arriving at CBC a 4x4 jeep was arranged and Pille and Priit headed to the border which they reached by the end of the day.

Pille remained on oxygen throughout the evacuation as well as during the drive back to the border. One of the challenges of the drive is that one has to reascend on several passes and with no way to avoid that the best one can do is have oxygen as a precaution.Today they completed the trip back to Kathmandu and are resting up at our team hotel for a few days.Pille est restée sous oxygène tout au long de sa descente et jusqu'à la frontière. Une des difficutés du voyage en voiture est que la route passe par des cols assez en haut en altitude aussi par précaution il faut mieux rester sous assistance d'oxygène pendant le trajet.Meanwhile at ABC
Ben and Siddhi will both be back in ABC today and the team will get back to the work of moving gear and tests up to C1. Obviously both Ben and Siddhi will need a bit of rest after the effort to go all the way down to CBC and back to ABC but Keith and Sophie should be able to move on up to C1 with a carry in the morning. We'll have word from ABC in the next 24hours about the re vamped schedule and share that in our next dispatch.

We are sorry to have Pille and Priit have to leave the team as they were strong and positive members. They have some time ahead of them and our agent Nima will be helping them to arrange an alternative adventure once they have rested up and made a decision about what to do with their time.Nous sommes désolé que Pille & Pritt aient du nous quitter. Ils était appréciés pour leurs attitudes positives et leurs forces. Ils ont un peu de temps devant eux et Nima (l'agent de l'expédition) va les aider à trouver une autre expédition/ aventure à vivre suivant ce qu'ils ont envie de faire.

About HAPE
Le mal des montagnes: un suffit de faire une recherche google... par exemple http://www.zonehimalaya.net/Expedition/altitude.htm
High Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE) is a medical condition in which fluid builds up in the lungs and blocks the body from bringing new oxygen into the blood stream causing a state of hypoxia. In some cases it can be severe enough to be fatal but typically with a rapid descent of several thousand feet the situation resolves and the body begins the process of reabsorbing the fluid that was building up in the lungs.
There are numerous signs and symptoms we look for in a suspected HAPE case and they can include a productive cough (progressing from clear to pink), lack of recovery after resting, cyanosis, breathsounds that have a gurgle or rattle to them and more. HAPE can present much like a chest cold, asthma or pneumonia but at altitude any difficulty breathing is assumed to be HAPE until otherwise proven.
Causes are varied but even a person taking good care to acclimatize on a reasonable schedule can succumb to HAPE. The treatments can included hyperbaric chambers and medications (niphedipine, dexamethasone, diamox and oxygen the most common) but there is nothing that is more important than a rapid descent. For some people this may be as little as 1000-2000ft but for others it may mean 4-5000ft or even a return all the way to see level. In our case the drop from ABC (5700m) to CBC(4900m) was approximately 800m or 2640ft and this was sufficient for symptoms to begin to subside.
In some cases climbers will feel considerably better after a few days down low and consider ascending again. This is obviously accepting a large degree of risk of contracting HAPE again but there are numerous cases of this happening even on 8000m peaks. For most people it makes best sense to stay where the air is thick and enjoy the Terai in Nepal, the Ganges and Varanassi in India, or the beaches and rock climbing in Thailand!
for more info on HAPE and altitude illness you can see a case study we have from a few years back on our site as well as visit any of the links below

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Ben Kane just called in from ABC where he and the team are all settled in for the night after a good hike up today from IBC. They have made very smooth progress and did not need any additional days in CBC to arrange yaks as they caught the first "train" out of town.BenKanevient d'appeleràpartir deABCoùlui etl'équipesonttousinstallés pourlanuitaprèsunebonne randonnéejusqu'à l'Inetrmediate Base Camp.Ilsonteu une très bonne progression etn'ontpasbesoin dejours supplémentaires au Camp de Base Chinoispour organiser le transport avec les yaks car ils ont profité d'un départ matinal à la sortie de la ville.

Apparently the yaks this year are a bit thin after a long winter and are not carrying the weight they usually do so.... instead of 17 burly yaks with 60kg each we ended up with 32 hungry yaks with 35-40kg each to carry our gear to ABC!Apparemment,lesyakscette annéesontun peu maigrichonsaprès unlong hiveretne sont pas capable de porter le poidsqu'ilsont l'habitude de porter....au lieu de17yaks dodus avec 60kgchacunnous nous sommes retrouvésavec32yaksmaigrichonsavec35-40 kgchacunpour porter notre equipement jusqu'aABC!

Ben noted that all of the teams loading up yaks were having the same challenge and the upshot is that a lot of money had to change hands from expeditions to yak drivers! After much debate and persuasion Ben was able to reduce our debt by a third but it still amounted to more than 1000usd. Additional expenses are quite routine on a Cho Oyu expedition and we budget for it each time. With fewer teams on the hill this spring we had no option but to bring sufficient rope and gear to fix the route and as such we are a bit heavier than usual. Beyond this our heated ABC tent requires more fuel and all this adds up. At this time we have 1000m of rope in BC and an additional 1000m in IBC (along with additional fuel) ready to come up if we need it.Bena notéquetoutesleséquipes qui ont fait appel à des yaksont fait le mêmeconstat etainsicela à coûté beaucoup d'argentaux expéditions au grand bonheur des conducteurs de yaks!Après un long débatetbeaucoup de persuasionBena réussi àréduirenotredetteparun tiersmaiscelle-ci s'élevait encore àplusde1000USD.Les frais supplémentairessontassezcourantssur expédition commeCho Oyuetcela est compris de le budget même de l'expédition.Avecmoins d'équipespour faire le sommetce printemps, nousn'avions pas le choix, nous devonsapportersuffisamment decordeet de matériel pour equiper l'ensemble de l'itinéraireetpar conséquent nous sommesun peu plus lourdqued'habitude.De plus, notrechapiteau chaufféABCexigeplus de carburantettout celas'additionne.En ce momentnousavons1000mdecordeau camp de base et 1000msupplémentairesà l'IBC(avec du carburantsupplémentaire)prêtàvenirsinous en avons besoin.

Ben said everyone is feeling very well and looking forward to a great rest day tomorrow. They are predicted to have excellent weather at ABC with sun and light wind down low. High on the hill the winds will be raging at over 100 km/h during this clear spell so they are likley to be treated to horizontal plumes of clouds and snow coming off the top.Bendittout le mondese senttrèsbienet attend de profiter de la bonne journée de repos dedemain.Les conditions météorologiques doivent être excellentesàABCavec du soleilet un léger vent allant en faiblissant.Plus haut, leventfera rageàplus de100 kilomètres par heurece qui formera des panacheshorizontales des nuages ​​qui appelleront la neige sur les sommets.

Our ABC setup this season includes an insulated floor and a heater and the team is enjoying the warmth and comfort they provide in the mess tent. Our chef Ratna will be serving up great food for them and also providing the right ambiance for a members lounging at BC. Ratna becomes the social center for our trips as there is no better place early in the morning than his cook tent with hot milk coffee, music and conversation. The sherpas and members from other teams will end up in Ratna's tent during the expedition and it is a place to make friends, get the latest news, talk over strategy and get the day started right. Out of his kitchen will come popcorn, french fries, soups, pastas, pizzas, momos (tibetan dumplings), curries and much more and i have yet to see another expedition eat better food than what Ratna prepares. He takes tremendous pride in making great food and does so with flare and panache. I hope you all get a chance to join Ratna on one of our trips and see it first hand for yourself!

The reality is that Ratna's ability to provide good food to our members is crucial to their ability to do the hard work of the climb ahead. They will be burning upwards of 5000 - 6000 calories a day and lucky if they can jam in 4000 calories a day. The more they can close that gap the stronger they will remain and the better a chance they have up high (where the gap is always widened on a summit push!). Typically members will lose between 5 and 10 KG (10-20lbs) but for members who can maintain a healthy appetite - and avoid GI illness - it is possible to keep that loss to just 2-3 kg.La réalitéestquela capacité deRatnaà fournirla bonne nourriturepournosmembresest crucialepourles aideràfaire et à préparer l'ascensionà venir.Ilsdépensent environ5000 à 6000calories parjouralors qu'ils parviennent difficilement à manger l'équivalent de 4000caloriespar jour.Plus ils mangent aujourd'hui plus ils seront fort les jours suivants, et plus ils auront de chances d'aller jusqu'au sommet.Généralement, les membresvont perdreentre5et 10 kg(10-20lbs), maispourles membresqui peuvent maintenirun bon appétit-et éviterla maladie-ilestpossibledemaintenircette perteàseulement2-3kg.

We'll look forward to watching the progress in the coming days and Ben will be calling in every few days to give us the latest!
Stay tuned for more!Noussommes impatients de voirles progrèsdans les prochains joursetBen nous appellera dans quelques jourspour nous donner les dernières nouvelles!Restez connectés les nouvelles arrivent!